Olympic lifting is very technical. The lifts themselves are very specific and not the best way to develop many of the attributes claimed. Olympic lifting specialists are one of the most frequently injured group of athletes. If the specialists are getting hurt, what can the regular Joe hope expect? The average man or woman cannot possibly learn these lifts correctly within a couple of hours from a CrossFit instructor, many of whom are themselves marginally qualified.
The O-lifts are meant to be low-rep lifts--not endurance lifts. They're highly technical and skill-dependent lifts; they were never meant for endurance events.
For ballistic, high-rep endurance lifting, use the Kettlebell. That's what they are designed for. But even Kettlebells can be fraught with injury if used with poor form.
Learning to use a kettlebell is GOOD, but saying Crossfit's use of Olympic-style lifts is dangerous is silly. Yeah, dumping a barbell onto a stack of bumper plates is stupid. Not knowing that your own arms are giving out and still trying to throw the barbell overhead is stupid. Stupid is as stupid does.
Crossfit does TWO Olympic lifts for time:
"Grace" Clean & Jerk 30reps for time, Rx'ed weight is #135. I use #125. Ususally takes me a tad under five minutes. Beasts do it in three or less. I power clean the weight. Easy peasy.
Another workout does 75 Snatches with 75# for time. This is grueling, a lot like loading [bleep] from the ground onto a flatbed trailer. Guess that should be banned too.
The guy is a total idiot when he says, "Olympic lifts were never designed for high repetitions". No f'in [bleep] Sherlock, maybe 'cause its the OLYMPICS, and they are trying to see how much weight they can lift...ONCE.
What makes him look REALLY STUPID is the fact that he can't understand that the clean and jerk is THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO LIFT ANYTHING OVER YOUR HEAD! It doesn't matter if it is a barbell or a sack of cement on a construction site. I suppose he reccomends only lifting ONE cement sack. Must be a union steward and well as an idiot.
